Wwii Veteran Finally Gets Medal For Helping China

After 40 years, Albert Bailey finally can say with pride that he has a medal from the Republic of China recognizing his service with the 14th Air Force in China during World War II.

Over the decades Bailey, of College Park, and many others became convinced that the medal -- authorized for thousands of Americans who served in China -- was a myth.

The medal was authorized for the allies who came to the aid of Nationalist China to help turn back the Japanese onslaught. But the authorizing document apparently was lost at the end of the war when communist forces were taking over the nation.

Bailey, who was a crew chief stationed in Kunming China from December 1944 to Thanksgiving 1945, heard of the medal years ago the way news often reaches servicemen -- through a rumor.

''After the war ended, there was a rumor that the Chinese government was going to issue a medal to all Americans who had served there in recognition and gratefulness for our helping them with their problems with the Japanese,'' Bailey said.

''But we never saw it, which we thought was because of the political situation after the war and the communists moving in.''

It appeared that the American servicemen who served in China would never receive their medals. Among the veterans, the award became known as the ''lost'' China medal.

Bailey, 65, attributed the rediscovery of the authorization to ''one man who persisted for 29 years until he dug it up.''

As a result of the persistence of Graham K. Kidd of Winter Park, American veterans of the China Theater now are receiving the medals, Bailey said.

After Kidd, a 14th Air Force veteran, contacted Chinese officials, the Taiwan government authenticated the award and announced that members of the 14th Air Force Association who request it will receive the award. The association was organized after the war and is made up of veterans who served in China with the 14th Air Force, the China Air Task Force, and the American Volunteer Group.

Bailey's medal was to be presented at a 14th Air Force reunion in Taiwan last May.

Bailey, who taught drafting for 20 years for the Orange County School System, moved up his retirement a few weeks so he could attend.

However, Bailey's name was not on the list when the presentations were made at the reunion.

''It was a letdown,'' Bailey said. ''I was looking forward to it. At the end of the banquet they were recognizing Chinese and Americans and handing out their awards. They were doing it alphabetically so I should have been at the beginning and they were halfway through already.''

The medal was mailed later with a request from the Chinese that it be presented at a formal ceremony.

On Nov. 5, Bailey was presented the medal in a ceremony at Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 2093, 4444 Edgewater Drive.

State VFW commander James R. Burkhart came to Orlando to present the medal, which is nearly two inches long and is inscribed in Chinese and suspended from a red, yellow and blue ribbon.

Bailey said figures on how many Americans served in China during World War II vary and he does not know how many of the medals have been presented. But he knows there have been more than 9,000, because the serial number on his is 9,229.